Speaking at the WinHEC event in Shenzhen, China, Qualcomm qcom and Microsoftmsft said they are collaborating to enable a full Windows 10 experience on mobile computing devices powered by next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. And that's interesting because Qualcomm just announced it is sampling its latest 10-nanometer ARM-based processors with 48 cores. Qualcomm believes this will help break the near monopoly that Intel has had on Windows for decades, as Snapdragon chips will be able to power desktops, laptops, and other devices too.

Those new chips are for servers, but Qualcomm said that its latest Snapdragon processors will support the full Windows 10 experience on mobile computing devices that enable anytime, anywhere connected devices. That gives Microsoft the ability to expand beyond Surface-like tablets and laptops into new kinds of mobile devices with Windows 10.

"Qualcomm Snapdragon processors offer one of the world's most advanced mobile computing features, including Gigabit LTE connectivity, advanced multimedia support, machine learning and superior hardware security features, all while supporting thin, fan-less designs and long battery life," said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president of Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement. "With full compatibility with the Windows 10 ecosystem, the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform is expected to support mobility to cloud computing and redefine how people will use their compute devices."

As traditional PC computing becomes more mobile, Qualcomm Technologies brings the scale of the mobile ecosystem with a rapid pace of innovation to address consumers' growing need to be always on and always connected. Snapdragon will enable Windows 10 PCs to combine the best of computing and productivity with the state-of-the-art consumer electronics technologies available in today's leading smartphones, the companies said.

"We are excited to bring Windows 10 to the ARM ecosystem with our partner, Qualcomm Technologies," said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, in a statement. "We continue to look for ways to empower our customers to create wherever they are. Bringing Windows 10 to life with a range of thin, light, power-efficient and always-connected devices, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, is the next step in delivering the innovations our customers love -- touch, pen, Windows Hello, and more -- anytime, anywhere."

New Windows 10 devices powered by Snapdragon will support all aspects of Microsoft's latest operating system, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Edge browser, Windows 10 gaming titles like Crysis 2 and World of Tanks, Windows Hello, and touchscreen features like Windows Pen. These devices will also support Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps and Win32 apps through emulation, providing users with a wide selection of full-featured applications.

The first devices running the full Windows 10 experience based on Snapdragon processors are expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2017.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/11/21/macom-applied-micro/feed/0semiconductors 2015heathclancyIntel Wants to Make a Full Court Press on Artificial Intelligencehttp://fortune.com/2016/11/17/intel-ceo-bryan-krzanich-artificial-intelligence/
http://fortune.com/2016/11/17/intel-ceo-bryan-krzanich-artificial-intelligence/#respondFri, 18 Nov 2016 00:00:55 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1862081]]>Like many technology companies nowadays, Intel is trying to capitalize on the rise and hype of artificial intelligence.

At a media event Thursday in San Francisco, Intel CEO Bryan Krzanich made the case for why he believes his company’s chip technologies and products are best suited to power the various forms of trendy, cutting-edge data crunching techniques popularized in recent years by companies like Googlegoog, Facebook fb, IBMibm, and others.

These technology companies have used A.I. techniques like deep learning to train their computers to perform feats like translating text into different languages and recognizing objects in pictures.

Intel intc is betting that more companies beyond just these technology giants will incorporate advanced data analytics into their business--and will need to buy the chips to power the tasks.

With Intel's core personal computer chip-making business declining (along with the rest of the PC market), the company has been trying to shift to selling beefier chips that run inside company data centers. At the same time, the company is also trying to build a business around selling chips that power Internet-connected devices, like automobiles or factory equipment.

As Krzanich explained, it's the flow of information to and from these Internet-connected devices to data centers that he believes will be a big business. It's the same marketing speech he and Intel have been giving for the past few years, but what's different now is that the company is heavily emphasizing "artificial intelligence" as a catch all to what companies traditionally consider to be business or data analytics.

Krzanich cited the company's recent acquisition of chip-makers Movidius for an undisclosed amount and Nervana for $400 million as examples of how Intel is trying to create more advanced chips tailored for powerful data processing. Nervana, for example built specialized chips and software to handle tasks like deep learning.

"The goal of all these acquisitions is to make artificial intelligence pervasive across all of [Intel's] products," Krzanich said.

The investments into artificial intelligence come at a time when Intel is facing increased competition from rival chip maker Nvidia nvda, which specializes in a type of technology called a graphics processing unit, or GPU.

Besides powering graphics in video games, GPUs are also used to power the computational heavy tasks of training computers on enormous data sets. As a result, Nvidia has seen its revenue soar over the past year. In its latest quarter, Nvidia’s sales increased 54% year-over-year to $2 billion due in part to selling GPUs to companies.

Still, the company is a much smaller company than Intel. Intel has a market cap of $166 billion while Nvidia has a market cap of $48 billion.

While not a significant threat yet to Intel's dominance in the data center, the skyrocketing growth of Nvidia represents a possible threat to Intel in the future if more companies buy GPUs to handle data-intensive tasks instead of Intel's own CPUs.

Indeed, at several times during the Intel event, Krzanich and other Intel executives downplayed the notion of needing to use GPUs to handle the power-hungry task of deep learning. GPUs are "not the only solution out there," said Krzanich.

How Intel's Executive VP Got Her Job

Patrick Moorhead, the president of analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy, told Fortune that Intel's recent acquisitions, especially its Nervana purchase, makes it more competitive with Nvidia and its line of GPUs if it can create a compelling product that utilizes Nervana's technology.

Intel is trying to build a chip portfolio around every type of data-crunching task, not only deep learning, Moorhead explained, and its own CPUs are capable of performing the majority of data-crunching businesses require. The only thing Intel lacked, until its past acquisitions, were powerful chips that could compete with Nvidia's GPUs used by companies like Amazonamzn to train their computers on large quantities of data, he said.

Now, Intel is making a full court press trying to convince businesses that it has the technology necessary to handle all types of trendy data crunching tasks.

Intel's head of data centers Diane Bryant said the deep learning market is still small, but growing rapidly, and by 2020, the company hopes to have Nervana-blessed chips that are 100 times more powerful than today's top of the line GPUs. Of course, it's likely that Nvidia or rival chip maker AMD amd will create more powerful GPUs as well.

The company’s shares were marginally higher in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

The San Diego-based company, which supplies chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple Inc, reported mobile chip shipments of 211 million for the quarter compared with its own forecast of 195 million-215 million.

Analysts on average had expected shipment of 206.1 million in the quarter, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

“Our chipset business is also benefiting from a strong new product ramp across tiers, particularly with fast growing OEMs in China,” said Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf.

Qualcomm gets the bulk of its revenue from chip sales but most of its profit comes from wireless patents it licenses to the mobile industry.

The NXP deal – the largest-ever in the semiconductor industry – would make Qualcomm the leading supplier to the fast-growing automotive chips market.

Qualcomm said it expects revenue of $5.7 billion-$6.5 billion for the current quarter. Analysts had expected $6.15 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income attributable to Qualcomm rose to $1.60 billion, or $1.07 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Sept. 25, from $1.06 billion, or 67 cents per share, a year earlier. (http://bit.ly/2f1RLQQ)

Up to Wednesday’s close of $67.09, Qualcomm’s shares qcom had risen 34.2% this year, handily outperforming the 22.2% gain in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/11/02/qualcomm-sales-quarter/feed/0Opening Day Of Mobile World Congress 2015vernekopyBroadcom Nears Big Acquisitionhttp://fortune.com/2016/11/01/broadcom-nears-big-acquisition/
http://fortune.com/2016/11/01/broadcom-nears-big-acquisition/#respondTue, 01 Nov 2016 19:14:55 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1845341]]>Chipmaker Broadcom is nearing a deal to acquire network gear maker Brocade Communications in a deal that could be announced later this week, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The deal would be the latest in a wave of semiconductor consolidation sweeping the industry. Run by chief executive Hock Tan, the company formerly known as Avago is one of the chip sector’s most prolific acquirers, having completed a $37 billion takeover this year and changing its name to Broadcom.

If the U.S.-and-Singapore-based company succeeds in buying Brocade, it would keep Brocade’s fiber channel and storage business, which has roughly $1.5 billion in annual revenue, while it would aim to divest its networking business, the sources said, asking not to be named because the matter is private.

Broadcom and Brocade declined to comment. While the companies are in advanced discussions, no deal is final and talks could still fall apart, the people cautioned.

A big part of Brocade’s IP networking business that Broadcom would look to divest was acquired as part of Brocade’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Ruckus Wireless earlier this year. This unit generated $209 million in product revenue in the third quarter.

A deal for Brocade, whose market capitalization has risen to $5.31 billion on merger talk, would come a week after the semiconductor’s industry’s largest ever tieup when smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm, agreed to buy NXP Semiconductors for about $38 billion.

For more about chips, watch:

Brocade would be the latest acquisition to become part of the sprawling company known as Broadcom, now the third-largest U.S. semiconductor maker by revenue, behind Intel and Qualcomm, with a market capitalization of $66.4 billion.

Last year, when Broadcom was called Avago, it made a push into fiber channels and adapters with the acquisition of Emulex. By adding Brocade’s high-margin fiber business, it would further bulk up its capabilities to help customers with the backbones of their data centers.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Brocade was nearing a deal to be sold and that Broadcom was among potential buyers.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/11/01/broadcom-nears-big-acquisition/feed/0Broadcom Limited company logo is pictured on an office building in Rancho Bernardo, CaliforniavernekopySamsung Plans $1 Billion Investment in U.S. Chip Productionhttp://fortune.com/2016/11/01/samsung-1-billion-us-chip-production/
http://fortune.com/2016/11/01/samsung-1-billion-us-chip-production/#respondTue, 01 Nov 2016 13:36:05 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1844887]]>Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday it planned to invest more than $1 billion by the end of June 2017 to boost production of system chips at its Austin, Texas, facilities in the United States to meet growing demand.

The South Korean firm, the world’s second-largest chipmaker behind Intelintc, said in a statement that its investment would boost output of chips for mobile and other electronics devices from its existing facilities in the city.

The investment comes after Samsung ssnlf said last week its capital expenditure for 2016 would rise to a record 27 trillion won ($24 billion), with 13.2 trillion won earmarked for its semiconductor business.

While most of Samsung’s semiconductor profits come from memory chip sales, it has been trying to boost earnings from other products including its own Exynos mobile processors and contract manufacturing deals with clients such as Qualcomm and Nvidia.

Samsung did not give further details for its investment plans in Austin, such as how much production capacity would be added.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/11/01/samsung-1-billion-us-chip-production/feed/0samsungheathclancyWhy Microsoft Is Putting These Chips at the Center of Its Cloudhttp://fortune.com/2016/10/17/microsoft-fpga-chips-azure/
http://fortune.com/2016/10/17/microsoft-fpga-chips-azure/#respondMon, 17 Oct 2016 13:00:19 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1829518]]>Microsoft has already talked a bit about its new computing architecture that makes more extensive use of field programmable gate array (FPGA) chips as well as conventional microprocessors to power its Azure cloud. But on Monday, the tech giant is revealing more details about that deployment.

Essentially, Microsoft msft researchers say that treating FPGAs as the “front door” to each server can expedite processes and even offload some key jobs from the server’s main microprocessor chip. For prospective business customers, that could mean that Microsoft Bing would return better, more relevant Internet searches based on a wider array of sources without adding delays.

Additionally, complex computing tasks required by artificial intelligence (AI) applications would be accelerated, according to two Microsoft professionals involved in this work: Derek Chiou and Sitaram Lanka. Chiou, Microsoft partner hardware engineeering manager, will present a research paper on that topic later on Monday at a tech conference in Taiwan. Microsoft also published an article on the project.

These chips, which are more flexible than the standard microprocessors or central processing units (CPUs) exemplified by Intel's intc X86 chip family, can be reprogrammed with software to handle different tasks as needed. That means that as work requirements change, the chip can be adapted on the fly and doesn’t necessarily need to be replaced. And just as Microsoft worked with Intel on the X86 microprocessor design in past decades, it’s working with the same company on FPGA issues, Chiao tells Fortune in an interview. Intel bought Altera, a maker of FPGAs last year for $16.7 billion.

There are many advantages of plugging an FPGA into the server, Chiou adds. For one thing, he explains, it can “sniff every packet” of data coming into the server as well as perform encryption, decryption, and compression without involving the CPU..

“Putting it at the front door doesn’t just make the network faster and more secure, you can also do many more things outside the purview of the CPU,” Chiou posits. “It’s like going to the bank and going to the teller to withdraw money. You don’t have to go to the manager.”

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Microsoft has been rolling out this technology internally and some of the advantages are showing up in Bing searches already. But the full benefits to people outside Microsoft should start showing up in the next six months or so, notes Lanka, partner group engineering manager at Microsoft.

While it’s impossible to quantify performance gains customers will get for any given application, Microsoft itself has seen some internal applications perform 200 times faster than in the past due to this additional hardware help, Chiou notes.

For more on Microsoft, watch:

Microsoft, Googlegoog, Amazonamzn, and others are all beefing up their data center infrastructures to boost artificial intelligence and other applications. Google, for example, is betting big on its Tensor chip, an application-specific integrated circuit, another chip technology, to speed up these applications.

When asked if flexible FPGAs will take on more jobs in data centers--perhaps even replacing other chip types--Chiou replies that data centers will use the best tools for any given job. So while there will likely be heavier use of FPGAs going forward, they’re not going to make microprocessors or ASICs obsolete.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/10/05/lam-kla-chip-acquisition-antitrust/feed/0The DOJ logo is pictured on a wall after a news conference in New YorkvernekopyWhy Now May Be a Good Time to Buy Broadcom Shareshttp://fortune.com/2016/10/03/broadcom-shares-apple-barrons/
http://fortune.com/2016/10/03/broadcom-shares-apple-barrons/#respondMon, 03 Oct 2016 10:17:12 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1815292]]>The stock of chipmaker Broadcom could increase by more than 20% thanks to what appears to be a growing relationship with Apple, according to Barron’s.

Broadcom’s brcm chips take up more space in Apple’s aapl new iPhone 7, which is likely to be a sales success, the report said. The same increased semiconductor use will likely be true for the next model of iPhone in 2017, it added, citing a stock analyst. Barron’s also noted that other trends will be positive for the company, including increased demand for proprietary signal filters used in cell phones.

Barron’s said Broadcom’s stock could hit $210 in a year, up from around $172 now.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/10/03/broadcom-shares-apple-barrons/feed/0Day Two Of Mobile World Congress 2014imountQualcomm Plans to Fight EU Antitrust Charges This Novemberhttp://fortune.com/2016/09/30/qualcomm-antitrust-eu/
http://fortune.com/2016/09/30/qualcomm-antitrust-eu/#respondFri, 30 Sep 2016 16:16:55 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1814297]]>U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm will attempt to fend off EU antitrust charges at a hearing on Nov. 10 that it used anti-competitive methods to squeeze out a rival, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The European Commission may take Qualcomm’s arguments at the hearing into account in the case, which could delay the Commission’s decision and possible fine against the company if it is found to have infringed EU antitrust rules.

Qualcomm qcom requested the closed-door hearing nine months after the European Commission accused it of forcing British phone software maker Icera out of the market by selling certain baseband chipsets below cost between 2009 and 2011.

Participants at antitrust hearings typically include senior officials from the Commission’s competition unit and other relevant departments, officials from national competition authorities, rivals, and interested groups.

Qualcomm, which faces a second antitrust charge of making illegal payments to a major customer for exclusively using its chipsets since 2011, did not ask an oral hearing for this case, the people said.

The company could face a fine up to $2.5 billion or 10% of its 2015 revenue, if found guilty of breaking EU rules.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/09/30/qualcomm-antitrust-eu/feed/0G5002016d — QualcommkingrachelWhy the Best News For Intel Investors Isn’t Improving PC Saleshttp://fortune.com/2016/09/16/intel-improving-pc-iphone/
http://fortune.com/2016/09/16/intel-improving-pc-iphone/#respondFri, 16 Sep 2016 16:30:29 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1799563]]>Venkata "Murthy" Renduchintala, who oversees several of Intel’s biggest businesses as president, stopped by Fortune’s offices last week on the day the new iPhones were unveiled to talk about his view of the future.

The hour-long conversation ranged from big data and machine learning to new wireless technologies like 5G to what it was like to jump to Intel from competitor Qualcomm after 12 years. One topic that didn’t come up: The PC market.

So investors probably should be less excited about Friday’s news from Intel. The company announced that in the third quarter it would bring in more revenue and be more profitable than it had previously forecast. The stock immediately jumped 4%.

But the reasons Intel intc offered for the better than expected results should be less than thrilling for investors in the company’s future. Intel said PC makers were building up inventories and PC demand might be stronger than they had thought.

And that’s all well and good--in the short term. If the PC market shrinks at a slower rate, Murthy and Krzanich will have more time and more resources to pull off their transition. But the fact that the PC market isn’t dying quite as quickly as the worst projections doesn’t tell investors and analysts anything about whether Intel’s strategies to find new areas of growth are working.

With the iPhone 7 finally arriving in customers’ hands on Friday, it was the subject of various teardown reports by experts who have all the weird screwdrivers needed to take the device apart (three different exotic screwdrivers were required to disassemble the iPhone 7). And what they found confirms the long, long rumored victory for Murthy and Krzanich. Two critical models of the iPhone 7 include a modem chip made by Intel, not Qualcomm qcom, which was the sole supplier previously.

For more on Intel’s future moves, watch:

In Murthy’s meeting at Fortune, he still wasn’t willing to discuss the Apple chips victory openly. But he clearly laid out the company’s plan to use the evolution to 5G wireless technology over the next few years as an opportunity to leapfrog leaders in the current 4G wireless environment, such as Qualcomm. Intel could also double down on its iPhone modem win by fabricating other chips for Appleaapl in the future.

So while shareholders may celebrate the less bad news in the PC market, long-term investors should raise a glass to the reports from the weird screwdriver gang.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/09/16/intel-improving-pc-iphone/feed/0intelampressmanJapan’s Renesas Electronics to Buy U.S. Chipmaker For $3.2 Billionhttp://fortune.com/2016/09/12/renesas-buys-intersil/
http://fortune.com/2016/09/12/renesas-buys-intersil/#respondTue, 13 Sep 2016 00:41:20 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1794930]]>(Reuters) – Japan’s Renesas Electronics said on Tuesday it will buy U.S. chipmaker Intersil for $3.22 billion amid a wave of consolidation in the global semiconductor industry.

Renesas, which controls nearly 40% of the global market for microcontroller chips used in automobiles, aims to complete the cash transaction by June 2017 to fully control the Milpitas, Calif.-based company, it said.

Slowing growth in computers and smartphones – the traditional mainstays of the industry – has fuelled a wave of mergers globally for scale, with chipmakers turning to areas such as auto electronics for sales growth.

At the end of last year, Tokyo-based Renesas was the world’s third-largest chipmaker by market share, with 9.1 percent, data from technology research firm Gartner showed.

The company said it planned to use cash on hand for the acquisition.

Intersil, whose chips are used in industrial, mobile and infrastructure applications, would expand Renesas’ portfolio in analogue chips, which process signals such as sound, light and temperature before converting them into digital signals.

San Jose, Calif.-based Maxim has been on the hunt for a deal for some time, according to the sources. The company could therefore be at the centre of further consolidation in the still-fragmented market for analogue chips, they said.

Maxim officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Nikkei business daily first reported in August on Intersil’s talks with Renesas.

The company’s net income rose to $505 million, or 46 cents per share, in the third quarter ended July 31, from $329 million, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net sales rose to $2.82 billion from $2.49 billion.

Shares in Applied Materials amat rose 5.78% in after hours trading on Thursday.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/08/18/applied-materials-shares/feed/0Applied Materials And Tokyo Electron Joint News Conference On MergervernekopySoftBank Agrees to Buy Major Chip Firm for $32 Billionhttp://fortune.com/2016/07/18/softbank-arm-acquisition/
http://fortune.com/2016/07/18/softbank-arm-acquisition/#respondMon, 18 Jul 2016 07:07:40 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1737287]]>SoftBank Group has agreed to buy UK chip designer ARM Holdings in a 24.3 billion pound ($32.2 billion) deal, the two companies said on Monday, in an ambitious bet on mobile internet that will transform the Japanese tech group.

ARM armhf, the most valuable tech company listed in London by market value, is a major presence in mobile processing, with its processor and graphics technology used by Samsung, Huawei and Appleaapl in their in-house designed microchips.

The Cambridge-based group also stands to be central to the tech industry’s shift to the ‘internet of things’--a network of devices, vehicles and building sensors that collect and exchange data--a focus for SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.

Monday’s deal, Softbank’s largest to date, marks a departure for the Japanese group, whose tech and telecom portfolio ranges from U.S. carrier Sprint to a stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba baba--but does not yet include a major presence in the semiconductor industry.

Under the all-cash, agreed offer, Softbank sftbywill pay 17 pounds for every ARM share--a premium of more than 40% to Friday’s close, in line with earlier news reports.

“This is one of the most important acquisitions we have ever made, and I expect ARM to be a key pillar of SoftBank’s growth strategy going forward,” Son said in the statement.

The acquisition is also one of Japan’s largest to date, and is part of a trend of Japanese companies seeking growth abroad to compensate for a stagnant domestic economy. It would outrank even SoftBank’s own $22 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in wireless operator Sprint in 2013--a deal that left the Japanese group with hefty debts as the U.S. carrier’s losses mounted.

For more about SoftBank, watch:

Cashed Up

Softbank has raised nearly 2 trillion yen ($19 billion) in cash over the last few months through asset disposals, according to Son--including the sale of shares in China’s Alibaba, unusual for a group that has rarely exited investments.

But analysts had expected it to use the cash to reduce debt or give shareholders a windfall by buying back its own shares.

Monday’s deal comes less than a month after Son, known as “Masa,” scrapped his plans to retire, effectively pushing out his heir apparent, former Google executive Nikesh Arora.

Son said then that he wanted to stay on to develop Sprint but also to complete the transformation of SoftBank into a tech investment powerhouse. He has focused on what he calls the next ‘paradigm shift’ in technology, which includes artificial intelligence and the internet of things--both increasingly important for ARM as it weathers a smartphone slowdown.

A deal would also come just weeks after Britain voted to leave the European Union, a decision that has battered sterling and bolstered the yen.

Though it has warned on the staffing impact of Brexit, ARM Holdings’ revenues are largely in dollars, and it has a diverse portfolio of technologies it licenses. Its shares have actually climbed almost 17% since the vote.

Under the offer on Monday, SoftBank said it was committed to keeping top managers, ARM’s headquarters and to at least double the employee headcount in Britain.

The company said it expects second-quarter revenue to be $1.35 billion, plus or minus 2%. Analysts were expecting $1.28 billion for the quarter.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/05/12/nvidias-shares-soar-5-on-strong-sales/feed/0Inside The 2016 Consumer Electronics ShowvernekopyCypress Semiconductor Losing Its CEO While Gaining a New Business From Broadcomhttp://fortune.com/2016/04/28/cypress-semiconductor-ceo-broadcom/
http://fortune.com/2016/04/28/cypress-semiconductor-ceo-broadcom/#respondThu, 28 Apr 2016 16:48:31 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1641096]]>Cypress Semiconductor announced on Thursday that its chief executive officer, T.J. Rodgers, is stepping down. The chip maker is also buying Broadcom’s brcm Internet of things division for $550 million in cash.

In a statement, Rodgers, who is 68 years old, said while he remains passionate about his work, he stipulated that he didn’t want to keep being “immersed” in operating a 7,000-person company. “To be completely candid,” he continued, “the board and even the executive staff have urged me to bring new blood into operations. Thus, the first-quarter 2016 report, my 120th as Cypress’s CEO, will be my last.”

The company is launching an internal and external search for a new CEO.

Rodgers received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth in chemistry and physics before going on to get his masters and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford. While at Stanford, Rodgers invented a type of transistor called VMOS, or vertical metal oxide semiconductor. He founded Cypress in 1982.

In the Broadcom transaction, Cypress cy will get that company’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee products along with associated intellectual property. It will also acquire the Broadcom WICED brand and set of developer partners. Zigbee is a wireless technology that aims to assure that devices from different manufacturers can talk to each other.

In a separate statement about the Broadcom deal, Rodgers said Cypress is already a significant player in the so-called Internet of things market by virtue of its ultra-low-power, programmable system-on-chip (PSoC) technology. The drawback was that it could only pair those chips with generic radio communications devices.

“Now we have the highly regarded Broadcom IoT business--state-of-the-art Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee RF technologies--that will transform us into a force in IoT and provide us with new market opportunities as well,” Rodgers wrote.

Putting low-power programmable devices out in the field is a key check box in the Internet of things, which relies on far-flung devices feeding data back to more centralized data aggregation points. Being able to program those gadgets remotely, and have them run for long periods of time on low-power is a key consideration

Cypress said the Broadcom transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies, and the deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2016, pending the usual regulatory approvals.

For more on the Internet of things, watch:

Rodgers sparked some controversies during his time at Cypress. Most notably, ten years ago, he responded to a letter sent from a nun to Cypress shareholders, pushing the company to add more women and minorities to its board.

Suffice to say, Rodgers didn’t take that advice well. In his response, he wrote:

Bluntly stated a “woman’s view” on how to run our semiconductor company does not help us, unless that woman has an advanced technical degree and experience as a CEO. I do realize there are other industries in which the last statement does not hold true. We would quickly embrace the opportunity to include any woman or minority person who could help us as a director, because we pursue talent--and we don’t care in what package that talent comes.”

Bluntly stated indeed.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/04/28/cypress-semiconductor-ceo-broadcom/feed/0T.J. Rodgers 2010barbaraadarrowApple Chipmaker NXP Eyes Cars to Outpace Rivals’ Growthhttp://fortune.com/2016/04/28/apple-chipmaker-nxp-eyes-cars-to-outpace-rivals-growth/
http://fortune.com/2016/04/28/apple-chipmaker-nxp-eyes-cars-to-outpace-rivals-growth/#respondThu, 28 Apr 2016 15:08:49 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1640997]]>Chipmaker NXP Semiconductors, the world’s top manufacturer of electronics in cars and a producer of chips used in Apple iPhones, gave an upbeat outlook for its growth prospects on Thursday.

The company, which completed its nearly $12 billion acquisition of Freescale last year, told investors it expects to outperform its peers until 2019 by growing at a compound annual rate of between 5% and 7%.

NXP also said it expected to reach adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of more than $4 billion by 2019 as a result of combining businesses.

It is the first time NXP had given a detailed outlook for the combined businesses.

The world’s top maker of automotive electronics had earlier said it expected Freescale to be accretive to earnings this year with cost savings of $200 million, resulting in annual cost savings of $500 million in the mid-term.

NXP’s near field communication (NFC) chips enable among other things contactless payments for smartphones, including those of China’s Xiaomi and Apple.

NXP’s products are also used by suppliers to the automotive industry such as Germany’s Continental, which is NXP’s largest customer, bringing in some 10% of total revenues.

The firm’s operating margin (EBIT) is expected to reach between 30% and 33% by 2019, while NXP expects to invest about 5% of its revenues annually.

NXP grew out of Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips, the co-developer of CDs and DVDs, and also has historic roots in Silicon Valley. Freescale was spun out of cellphone and walkie-talkie pioneer Motorola.

NXP shares were up 1.2% at $90.03 in early trade in New York, outperforming the semiconductor index which was down 1%.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/04/28/apple-chipmaker-nxp-eyes-cars-to-outpace-rivals-growth/feed/0NXP-3kingrachelMarvell Adds Starboard Nominees to Board Amid Investor Pressurehttp://fortune.com/2016/04/27/marvell-starboard-activist-pressure/
http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/marvell-starboard-activist-pressure/#respondWed, 27 Apr 2016 14:28:53 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1639108]]>Marvell Technology reached an agreement with Starboard Value on Wednesday, saying it will add three new directors nominated by the activist hedge fund, which has agitated for changes at the company since early this year.

Starboard, which holds a 6.5% stake in the U.S. chipmaker, will also designate an additional independent director, the company said.

Marvell had said in September it would cut about 17% of its workforce as it trims its mobile business to focus on automotive technologies and Internet of things.

The chipmaker at that time also said it was investigating its accounting practices related to revenue recognition issues in the second quarter.

Starboard announced its stake in February, saying then it had retained semiconductor veterans Rick Hill, Oleg Khaykin and Jeff McCreary as advisers for its Marvell investment, an early indication the activist would propose them as board directors if the hedge fund and company could not come to terms on the path of the company.

In April, Marvell said its chief executive and president, a husband-wife duo who co-founded the company, were stepping down, though both remained on the board.

Due to its auditing issues, the company has not yet set an annual meeting date.

Even without the meeting date as a deadline, Starboard and Marvell’s advisers were able to reach a settlement to avoid any potential proxy fight.

Separately on Wednesday, Yahoo announced a settlement with Starboard, granting it four board seats.

]]>http://fortune.com/2016/04/27/marvell-starboard-activist-pressure/feed/0Marvell CEO 2011 Sehat SutardjakingrachelIntel’s Head of Mobile Won’t Leave After Allhttp://fortune.com/2016/04/22/intel-aicha-evans-staying/
http://fortune.com/2016/04/22/intel-aicha-evans-staying/#respondFri, 22 Apr 2016 17:07:11 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1634264]]>Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was asked on the company’s April 19 quarterly earnings call to explain the recent departures of several high-level executives. Krzanich talked about two, Doug Davis, who oversaw the Internet of things business, and Kirk Skaugen, head of the massive client computing group.

But the CEO said nothing about a third rumored quitter, Aicha Evans, head of the company’s mobile unit. Now comes word that Evans, one of the highest ranking women in the chip industry, is not leaving and will remain in her present position, according to a source familiar with the company.

Intel intc declined to comment. Bloomberg, which first reported on April 1 that Evans had quit, now reports that Krzanich convinced Evans to withdraw her resignation and that she has told colleagues she will stay, citing unnamed sources.

Evans’ rumored decision to leave may have been the most surprising and the most significant of the three, as she was seen to be finally improving Intel’s long struggling effort to crack the mobile device market by winning some business from Apple aapl. Some investors saw her departure as reason to question whether Intel had a deal with Apple.

Though neither Apple nor Intel have confirmed an agreement for modem chips in an upcoming iPhone upgrade, numerous analysts have weighed in saying they expect such a deal for the iPhone 7. And Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf repeatedly spoke about losing some business at a major customer to a so-called second source on his quarterly earnings call on April 20.

Without Apple’s business, Intel’s smartphone effort has made little headway so far, reporting over $7 billion in losses in 2013 and 2014 before being rolled into the larger client computing group last year, where its struggles could be shielded by shrinking but still huge profits from PC chip sales.

Now, Intel could use some help. Along with quarterly results, Krzanich announced a plan to layoff 12,000 people to cut costs and concentrate more resources on higher-growth areas such as chips for data centers, self-driving cars, and of course, mobile devices.

AMD said it signed an agreement licensing its processor technology to a joint venture it has formed with Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. (THATIC), an investment unit of Chinese Academy of Sciences.